Collected poems of Thomas Hardy With a portrait |
I. |
II. |
III. |
IV. |
1 |
1 |
1 |
I. |
II. |
III. |
I. |
II. |
III. |
IV. |
V. |
VI. |
VII. |
VIII. |
IX. |
X. |
XI. |
XII. |
XIII. |
XIV. |
XV. |
THE SAILOR'S MOTHER |
1. |
2. |
3. |
Collected poems of Thomas Hardy | ||
THE SAILOR'S MOTHER
“O whence do you come,
Figure in the night-fog that chills me numb?”
Figure in the night-fog that chills me numb?”
“I come to you across from my house up there,
And I don't mind the brine-mist clinging to me
That blows from the quay,
For I heard him in my chamber, and thought you unaware.
And I don't mind the brine-mist clinging to me
That blows from the quay,
For I heard him in my chamber, and thought you unaware.
“But what did you hear,
That brought you blindly knocking in this middle-watch so drear?”
That brought you blindly knocking in this middle-watch so drear?”
628
“My sailor son's voice as 'twere calling at your door,
And I don't mind my bare feet clammy on the stones,
And the blight to my bones,
For he only knows of this house I lived in before.”
And I don't mind my bare feet clammy on the stones,
And the blight to my bones,
For he only knows of this house I lived in before.”
“Nobody's nigh,
Woman like a skeleton, with socket-sunk eye.”
Woman like a skeleton, with socket-sunk eye.”
“Ah—nobody's nigh! And my life is drearisome,
And this is the old home we loved in many a day
Before he went away;
And the salt fog mops me. And nobody's come!”
And this is the old home we loved in many a day
Before he went away;
And the salt fog mops me. And nobody's come!”
Collected poems of Thomas Hardy | ||